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| Sunday, 21 March 2004 |
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A dip into Bollywood's hair flare secrets by Farah Macan Markar You've seen them fighting, crying, laughing, wooing and dancing, dressed in glamorous kurtas and glittering saris, their hair short, long, wavy, straight, combed back or falling over their face. Bollywood film stars in all their glitter and Friday the 12th March saw Dilshad Pastakia, hairdresser of a few in this hall of fame such as Sharukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerjee, in Sri Lanka. Talking about the secrets of Bollywood's hair flare, in the Sunsilk Hair and Beauty Fair 2004 organised by the Sri Lanka Association of Hairdressers and Beauticians, in the BMICH, Pastakia reveals it all, from the natural hair texture of these film stars, their personalities and what its like being their personal hairdresser as well as what's trendy on the head this year. Let's first talk about the man of Bollywood himself, that handsome guy in his forties who still looks as good as he did in his twenties, whose tears no doubt touch every woman's heart, Sharukh Khan. Sharukh was first brought to Dilshad's salon by his wife, who was one of her regular clients. "I was petrified. I mean this was Sharukh Khan and I had to cut his hair" recalls Dilshad whose wracking nerves made her drop the scissors three times during the cut, to the hysterics of Mr.Khan who kept screaming "Don't cut it short. Don't cut it short". The natural texture of Sharukh Khan's hair is, poker straight which falls all over his face into a fringe when long and sticks up when cut short. The hair is brown in colour, with streaks of white, which his hairdresser prelightens and gives a blonde tone, to match his face, which is slightly tanned. "His hair is not easy to manage" says Pastakia "we have to put a lot of gel and wax to make it stay put for filming". In his early movies Khan had his hair long in the back and short in the front. Something Dilshad describes as a "Heroish" and yet "Old Fashioned" look, which the young action heroes wore at the time. As he reached the age of thirty five, Sharukh Khan wanted to get away from the young action hero image. Thus in order to do films with more mature characters, to make him look his age, his hair was given a softer cut, which let it fall over his face. Pastakia's most challenging experience with Sharukh Khans' hair was in the shooting of "Asoka" in which he needed to have short hair in the beginning of the film and long hair towards the end, when he became a warrior. Not wanting to wear a wig, to create this long hair effect, Dilshad gave him hair extensions which was the first time, it was used in Bollywood. Hair extensions are real strands of hair, specially preserved with a glue stick at its bottom which is bonded onto the person's hair, giving it a soft, flowing, flexible look. They can be permed, tinted and coloured and last upto five months. In the case of Sharukh, who was filming "Kabi Kushi Kabi Gum" at the same time, he'd have the extensions put on for the shooting of "Asoka" removed for "Kabi Kushi Kabi Gum" re-put for "Asoka" and so on. According to Dilshad Sharukh Khan is an actor, whose talented, intelligent and most important of all knows what he wants. "Before doing the hair extensions he brought me pictures of ancient Indian warriors as well as pictures of Mel Gibson as Braveheart, telling me this was the look he was going for" says Pastakia. The first time the extensions were done on his head, took 14 hours of work, with the brown glue of each extension strand having to be pencil coloured to match his own hair. Kareena Kapoor. The first aspect her hairdresser brings to light, is the fact that she's very fair. "Kareena is so fair and her natural hair is very dark. For the films, we lighten it and give it a slightly brown tone, to blend more with her skin, instead of having it contrast heavily" says Dilshad. It was Kareena's mother who first brought the young actress to Pastakia. Shooting at the time for the film "Refugee", playing the role of a simple village girl who'd be wearing shalwars all the time, the director wanted Kareena to have a down to earth, simple look. However her mother thought differently. Her daughter was a star, and even though she were acting a village girl, she should still have something special in her. She consulted Dilshad and the hairdresser did the rest. The most challenging part in being a hairdresser in Bollywood, is getting caught inbetween the director and the film star, as Pastakia found herself in doing the hair cuts for Kareena in "Kabi Kushi Kabi Gum". Being a film with an all star cast, the director was under a lot of tension for everyone to look good. "Hrthik had this regular trim" says Dilshad "And for Kareena the director wanted her hair cut short, to give it a funky, young, Jennifer Anniston look. But Kareena didn't want it cut short, and at the beginning when I did cut it, she didn't like it, but adjusted to it with time". Rani Mukerjee. When Rani Mukerjee first came to Pastakia, it was while filming for "Chalte Chalte" with Sharukh Khan. Wanting to give her a fresh and attractive look, Dilshad stylised her hair and cut it in graduate layers. "We focused more on stylising her hair, than cutting it" says Dilshad. For "Kutch Kutch Hotha Hai" Rani wore a wig at the back of her head, thought the top part was natural. Of Mukerjee, Pastakia says "She's a simple girl who transforms herself on screen". Thinking about becoming a hairdresser? Well Dilshad says it is vital to be sincere, genuine and professional. "You may become famous as a hairdresser, but you should never let that get into your head. Instead be down to earth, simple, warm and caring. And you've got to learn the balance of being genuine and being professional, specially when dealing with stars who have such fragile egos". The most important aspect in hair, is not just in having a good cut, as more in maintaining it. For this Dilshad recommend conditioning. "Experiment and find out what conditioner suits you, and condition everytime after you have a shampoo". As for what's hot this year. According to the expert, it's wavy hair, mid length and with a lot of colours. |
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